New Girl: PoT Style
by Rukama
Summary: When Eiji Kikumaru met Ann Tachibana. He thought she was too beautiful to be real. But sometimes, making friends can be deadly...AnnEijiOC
1. Prologue

Prologue

Ann's gone.

Bye Ann.

Look at her below, her dress is all wrinkled. She wouldn't want that. She was always neat.

She didn't like blood either, so dim and bitter.

You were always so perfect, Ann. You were always mom's favorite.

She always called you "My shining star." always bright and dazzling in every way.

But where was I when you had the spotlight?

Who was I when you were "Little Miss Perfect"?

Well you got what you want and you still have it.

Well, you're still perfect, Ann, perfectly dead. Hah.

I shouldn't laugh now. But I hadn't realized that it was so easy. I've never dreamed for it to that easy.

I've been dreaming about it all my life. Wishing about it so much and oh did I feel guilty.

Still, I've never dreamed that it would be so easy.

One push.

One push, down you go.

Look at you down there, so broken. So perfectly broken.

Soon, everyone's coming in. And now, I'm crying.

After all, it is a terrible disaster.

A terrible accident.

I have to go and tell the others.

Bye Ann.

"Mom! Ann's dead! Hurry up! It was all too horrible—but Ann's dead!"


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

When Eiji Kikumaru saw the new girl, he was balancing a handstand front of the whole cafeteria. Well, he was only balancing his position with one hand and used his free hand to hold his lunch.

A few minutes ago, Takeshi Momoshiro, Eiji's best friend and active daredevil from Seishuun Gakuen gymnastics team, concluded that Eiji couldn't perform such an achievement.

"That's too easy, nya!"He said as he shook his head. Eiji never passed a chance to prove Momoshiro wrong. He thought twice for a second as he ran through his curly red hair with his fingers while looking around the crowded area and to make sure that there were no teachers here to witness what he was about to do. Then he flipped over in midair, landed, and easily stabled his hand and head on the ground.

Now Momoshiro was cheering and applauding his approval from a nearby table, along with several spectators who were praising after he performed the feat.

"Do it with no hands!" Momo called from afar.

"Yeah! Do it!" Kawamura Takashi, another gymnastics member, urged while holding up his fork.

"Do it with no head!" Another joker yelled. Everyone laughed.

Meanwhile, Eiji began to feel a little uncomfortable. Blood was rushing to his head and he began to feel dizzy. The top of his head began to ache from holding him up and pressing on the hard floor tile.

"I dare you to eat your lunch like that!" Momo challenged him, bringing Eiji up to greater glories.

"Lookin' good, Eiji!" Someone called out.

"What's going on?!" called an alarmed voice, a voice of a teacher.

The loud voices, cheering, applauding, and jokes began to fade when the new girl glided to Eiji's view. She was so pale, so light-colored, so beautiful, so graceful at first he thought he was imagining it. The blood in his head must've made him see things.

She was walking against the far wall, heading quickly towards the double doorways. Eiji only caught a quick look of her, upside down. She stopped to stare at him. He saw pale brown eyes. His eyes connected with hers. _Was she really staring at him? Was she smiling or frowning?_ It was hopeless to see from his position. Then she shook her head away as if purposely breaking the connection and mysteriously vanished from his view.

_Those eyes…_

_"Who was she?" _He thought _"She's incredible!" _

Thinking about the new girl, he completely forgot the balance that was keeping him upright. The tray which had his lunch fell. Then he fell, his face landing on his lunch, his chest crashed on the floor, with his legs sprawling behind him. The noise began to rise again. The crowd started laughing and applauding sarcastically.

"Do it again!" Kawamura roared within the crowd.

Momoshiro rushed over and helped his friend up. "Any more bright ideas, genius?" Eiji groaned sarcastically as he pulled off some spaghetti noodles off his messy hair.

"I would propose a sandwich next time." Momo said laughing. He had short black spiky hair and had face that would most likely go in the basketball team.

Eiji wiped off the tomato sauce from his face with the front of his T-shirt. When he looked up, Mrs. Yakazawa, the lunch monitor, was in front of him. She said nothing but shook her head disapprovingly.

"Sorry about that, nya…" Eiji said, feeling more than a little bit silly.

"About what?" Mrs. Yakazawa asked with a straight face.

Eiji laughed. Thank goodness Mrs. Yakazawa had a sense of humor.

'It was all Kawamura's idea!" Momoshiro told her, pointing at the table where Kawamura was who was still on his burning mode.

"I don't think Kawamura's had such an idea." She replied still keeping a straight face. She smiled and gave Eiji a quick wink and walked away.

Dripping still with noodles and tomato sauce, Eiji picked up his tray.

"Hey, Momo, who was that girl?"

"What girl?"

"The girl with short brown hair…the one who walked out a while—"

"Who?" Momo looked confused. He helped him pick up some of his almost empty plates and tossed it on the tray.

"A new girl?" Momo continued asking.

Eiji groaned. "Didn't you see her, nya…?"

"No. I was watching you make a complete idiot of yourself."

"Hoi Hoi! It was your idea, nya!"

"It wasn't my idea for you to dive your whole face into spaghetti."

"She's a brunette and she was wearing a pale blue dress."

"Who?"

"The girl I saw."

"You saw a girl wearing a _dress_ to school?"

"You don't believe me, ne?" Eiji looked at the doorway to see if ever she would be there. Then his stomach growled, reminding him that he ruined his lunch.

"Nya, Momo, do you have any money? I'm starving!"

"Don't look at me, man!" He replied waving his hands uncertainly as he started backing away.

"C'mon! You owe me!" Eiji placed his tray down a table and walked towards him.

"No waay!"

"Where's your lunch? We'll split it, nya!" He asked as he walked towards the table where Kawamura and Momo's lunches were.

"My lunch? Forget it. I haven't—"

Eiji wasn't listening. He grabbed a apple from Momo's tray and a handful of cookies from Kawamura's.

"Hey! I need those!" Kawamura complained as he tried to make an attempt to get the cookies back.

"Be a pal, nya!" Eiji said through a mouthful of the apple he got.

"We have practice after school, right? If I don't eat, I'll be too weak to climb onto the balance beam.""Break my heart," Kawamura said as he rolled his eyes as he broke off the cookies from Eiji's hand and shoved the halves quickly into his mouth. "Maybe the rest of us might have a chance."

Eiji sensed more than a little antipathy from Kawamura. He felt bad about it, but what can he do? He couldn't do anything with the fact he was a lot better than his teammates as a talented gymnast.

He had been on the varsity gymnastics team since his freshman year in Seishuun. And Coach Ryuuzaki really thought he would have a chance in winning the International Championship in the next spring.

"_It's a good thing Coach Ryuuzaki didn't see me fall into my lunch_." Eiji thought. He finished off the rest of the cookies and drank the last few drops of Momo's orange juice and crushed it with his fist.

"Well- balanced lunch." He smiled.

Momo was showing Kawamura a new way on how to slap someone five. He had serious look, on his normally happy-go-lucky face, and he was slapping Kawamura's hand repeatedly trying to get it right. "Not like that, jerk." He kept saying.

Eiji couldn't figure who was the jerk. "See ya, nya..." He told them as he tossed the crushed orange juice into the trash bin halfway across the room. They didn't look up. He headed towards the double doors, and completely ignoring the laughs of some kids. He was thinking about the girl in the blue dress again. He had only seen her for a few seconds and while upside down. But she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.

_Hauntingly _beautiful.

The phrase popped into his head.

He realized he was looking for her as he headed down the hall for his locker.

_Who was she? Where is she? She's real—right?" _

"Hey, Eiji—swim in your lunch?"

He didn't turn around to see who it was. He must've looked that bad. Suddenly, he wished that he didn't meet her now. He didn't want her to see him like this. He stood in front of his locker trying to decide on what to do. _"Do I have time to go the showers? _He looked at his watch. No. The bell for 5th period would ring in less than 3 minutes. _"Should I skip 5__th__ period?"_ He can't. Mr. Kakojou would explain the term paper assignment at that time.

Shina Miharu walked up and started turning the combination of her locker. She pulled the lock open and looked at him. "You look great."

"Thanks." He looked down at his shirt. "This remind you when we were younger?"

"No. you were neater then." She laughed.

Eiji and Miharu had lived next door to each other in the Northern part of the town for their entire lives. They had played together ever since they were small. Their two families were so close; they were like one big family.

Living so close together, Eiji and Miharu had managed to stay friends even through those years where the same genders go together. Now, as teenagers, they are always comfortable with each other, wherein their friendship was a natural part of their life.

Miharu had dark good looks, short black hair and black almond-shaped eyes. She always said something funny as her lips begin to curl into a smile.

Now she stared at Eiji in front of their lockers. "I was standing on my head in the cafeteria a while ago…" He told as if that would explain his appearance.

"Not again…" She said. She bent down to get some books from her locker. "Who were you showing off to this time?"

Her question annoyed him. "I didn't say I was showing off, nya! I just said I was standing on my head."

She smiled. "Momoshiro dared you to, right?"

"How'd you know, nya?"

"Lucky guess." She stood up with her arms filled with notebooks and school books. "You can't go to class like that. You smell like pizza."

"What can I do?"

"Here. You can borrow a T-shirt." She bent down to her locker to get it.

"A girl's shirt? I can't wear a girl's shirt, nya!" He pulled the sleeve of her sweater and began to pull her up.

"It's not a girl's shirt, you know. It's just a shirt you can wear." She pulled out a black and white stripped shirt and tossed it to him. "But wash your hair before you wear it."

The class bell rang. Locker doors slammed and the hall grew quiet as the other kids walk towards their classrooms for their 5th period classes.

"Get real. How can I wash my hair?"

She pointed to the water fountain across the hall. He smiled at her gratefully. "You're smart, Miharu-chan. I always knew you were."

'That's a real compliment coming from a guy who puts head in his pasta." She said, her lips sliding into that wry smile.

"Hold on the water for me, nya." He said walking quickly towards the low white fountain.

"No way, Eiji, I don't want to be late." But she followed him anyway. "And I certainly don't want to be seen with you." She joked as she gave a short laugh.

"You're a pal, Miharu-chan."

He didn't see her frown. She hated being called a 'pal'. She sighed as she turned on the water knob. Then she stood there hoping no one would pass by as he plunged his head into a fountain and frantically struggled to scrub the dried sauce from his tangled curls.

The bell rang. "Eiji, I've got to go."

He stood up, water pouring down his face. "Good thing the water in the fountain never gets cold." He said, He pulled off the stained T-shirt and dried his hair with it.

"Eiji—really. I don't want to be late. She tossed the clean T-shirt and, struggling to hold on to her armload of books, ran to class.

The striped shirt fell onto the floor in front of Eiji's sneakers. Still rubbing his hair with the dirty shirt, he bent over to pick it up.

When he stood up, he saw her again.

First he saw her blue dress, and then he saw her short brown hair.

She was half-way down the hall, hurrying to class.

There was something strange about the way she moved. Her feet didn't make a sound as she ran. She seemed so light that she seemed to be floating a few inched above the ground.

"Hey, wait—"He called out.

She heard him. She turned around and turned her head, her brown hair swirling behind her.

Once again her brown eyes connected with his. _What was within her eyes? Was it fear?_

Her lips moved. She was saying something to him, but he couldn't hear her.

"Please don't"

Is that what she said?

No.

That wasn't it. That couldn't be it. Eiji was a terrible lip reader.

"Please don't?"

No.

What had she really said? Why did she look frightened?

"Please, wait—"He called,

But she vanished into a classroom.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Eiji slammed his gym locker closed and angrily pounded his fist against it.

"Ne Eiji, what's the matter with you?" Momo asked, still wearing his gym uniform.

"I sucked!" He retorted. "I looked like an idiot on the bars today!"

"So what else is new?" Momo shrugged. "At least you didn't twist your ankle. He winced as he rubbed his ankle which looked red and swollen.

"Cya, nya." Eiji mumbled with a sickened tone. He tossed his wet towel over the dry cleaners and left the room, irritated. He just had the worst practice this year, maybe his whole life! And he knew why.

It was the new girl.

Eiji has been trying to find her the past 3 days. He hadn't seen her since that quick moment at the hall before his 5th period on Monday. But he can't forget her. No matter how much he tried to. She was just too beautiful!

He had a dream of her that night.

In the dream, he was at the cafeteria, eating his lunch. Then he saw how she seemed to glide across the room. She went towards his table, her brown eyes shining beautifully. She leaned down as her short hair fell over his face, soft and aromatic.

She started to kiss his face, his forehead, both of his cheeks one by one, soft kisses…so soft he couldn't really feel it.

He wanted to feel her kisses. He tried to feel it. But he couldn't feel anything. He reached up to touch her delicate face but it looked like his hand went through her.

Then he woke up.

The dream had stuck in his mind. His dream should've been exciting, but there was something that didn't make him feel that way. There was something unnaturally cold about it…_Why couldn't he feel his kisses or touch her face?_

For another set of days, Eiji tried to look for her. He tried looking for her in the cafeteria, in the halls between classes. And even after school he waited outside hoping he could get a glimpse of her. But she never appeared. His friends and teammates in the gymnastics varsity also had no idea of the girl when he asked them.

As he trudged through the empty halls, he kept wondering why his timing was off during his practice but her face kept on drifting in his head. Once again, he imagined her floating on the halls.

"Are you real?" He loudly asked as his voice echoed through the whole corridor.

"Yes I am real. But what are you?" A girl's voice replied, which almost made him jump.

"Eh?" He spun around to find Miharu behind him.

"Talking to yourself these days huh, Eiji?"

He felt his face growing hot from embarrassment. "W-what are _you_ doing here? It's nearly 5:00pm."

"Oi…it's my school too. I can stay as long as I like. You jocks think you own the place or something…" She replied.

He shrugged. He didn't feel like joking around today.

"I was working on Judges. We're going to paste it tomorrow morning." Miharu was the assistant-editor the Seishuun Gakuen School paper."I suspect you were doing flip-flops down the gym?"

"It's not flip-flops," He replied with an annoyed look. "We're going to have a match against Hyotei this Friday night."

"Good luck." She said, punching his shoulder. "They're pretty good, right?"

"They're not that good, nya."

They walked down the corridor, their footsteps echoing rhythmically. They soon were at their .lockers as the stopped to get their books and jackets.

"You going home?" Miharu asked. "Want company?"

"Sure." He replied, though he really didn't.

They walked out the back doorway, out through the teachers' parking lot. They passed by the Seishuun's Tennis courts and right behind it was the Seishuun Park, a wide grassy park filled with different kinds of trees which sloped down to a thin stream that led to Yakarusa River.

Because the park was near the school, it was considered a hangout for most of the students back at Seishuun. A great place for meeting friends, going out for picnics, study dates, taking long comfortable naps under the large trees, looking for squirrels, or just staring at the calm flow of the river.

But not tonight. The park was cold and stale. The fallen leaves made random circles at the teachers' parking lot due to the cold wind along with the sky which was heavy and dark.

"Let's go to the front way," He said as he walked with her. They headed to the front part of the school. She leaned against him as they walked. He figured that she was trying to get warm.

"Guess it's really winter…" She murmured.

They continued on walking passed Park Drive, a walk they have done a thousand times. It felt different with him. He assumed that he was just in a bad mood.

They had been silent the whole time. The wind was the only one making the noise as it blew hard on their faces. Soon, they both spoke at once.

" Have you seen a girl with short brown hair—"

"Are you doing anything this weekend? Saturday night?"

But they also stopped at the same time as soon as they said those.

She pushed him. "You go first."

He pushed her back, but not as hard. "No. You."

"I asked if you were doing anything Saturday night…"She asked as she leaned on his shoulder again.

"No, I don't think so,"

"I'm not either…" She told him. Her voice seemed funny, a little tense. He assumed it was just the wind.

"Have you seen a girl with brown hair and eyes, nya?" He asked.

"What?"

"A very pretty girl but strange-looking…sorta old-fashioned, very pale, nya."

She let go of his arm. "You mean Ann?" She asked. He didn't see the disheartened look on her face.

A bright look flashed from his face. "Ann? That's her name? Do you know her, nya?" The streetlights flickered on like the expression he had at the same time. Terror Avenue

"She's a new girl. Very pale. A brunette. Has her hair brushed straight back with a small clip on the right side? Wears dresses all the time?"

"Yeah! That's her, nya. Ann. W-well, what's her last name?"

"I don't know," Miharu snapped, then regretted for revealing who she was. "Tachibana, I think. Ann Tachibana. She's in my fourth-period arithmetic class."

"Wow, nya…" He mumbled, still not moving, the trees casting its shadow across his face. "You know her. What's she like?"

"No Eiji. I don't know her. Like I said, she's a new girl. I don't know anything about her. She never says a word in class. Sits in the back row, pale as a ghost. She's absent a lot. W-wait--! Why are you so zealous of knowing her?"

"What else do you know?" Eiji asked, ignoring her question. "Come on, nya."

"That's it." She said impatiently. She started walking ahead of him, taking long strides.

He ran to catch up with her. "I thought I made her up." He said.

"No. She's real." Miharu replied. "She doesn't look real. But she's real. You in love with her or something? Oh. I know. You and Momo made a bet to see who could get a date with her first. She shoved him again, nearly knowing him off the sidewalk. "I'm right, aren't I? You two always pick on the new girls."

Again he didn't seem to hear her. "Don't you know anything else about her? What classroom is she in? Where does she live?"

"Oh. Yeah. I did hear about that. She transferred here from Kanagawa. Her family moved into a house on Kyofu Gairo.

"Kyofu Gairo?" Eiji stopped short, feeling a chill down his spine.

Kyofu Gairo, a narrow part of the town that would past the cemetery and through the thick woods until it reached the South edge of the town. That part of the town was said to be cursed.

The blackened remains of a burned-out mansion—Kyofu Toeba's mansion, stood high on the hill on centered part of Kyofu Gairo, overlooking the cemetery, creating heavy shadows that stretched through the dark, dead woods. Terrifying howls, dreadful screams, unrevealed secrets, curses…were said to lurk within the mansion.

People from Seishuun Gakuen grew up hearing different kinds of stories about Kyofu Gairo—about people who wandered within the woods and never came back, about accidents that couldn't be explained, fiends that prowled around the mansion, ruthless spirits that were never put to rest and about mysterious murders and unsolved mysteries.

When Eiji and Miharu were kids, their friends would always like to dare each other to walk on Kyofu Gairo at night. It was a contest for the bravest of kids to take part. And those who wouldn't be seen for long! But even until now, the words _Kyofu Gairo _still brought a chill to him.

"I think Ann belongs to Kyofu Gairo. She could haunt as well as any ghost in the old houses there." Miharu said, giving Eiji a half-smile.

"I think she's the most beautiful girl I've ever seen, nya." Eiji replied, feeling like he needed to defend her from attacks.

"So do you have a bet with Momoshiro or what?" She asked.

"No." He snapped, lost in thought.

They reached their houses, dark and shingled ranch houses, almost identical, set back far from the street behind the tall hedges, on wide manicured lawns like all the other houses on the north hills, the nicest section of the town.

"About Saturday night—"She tried again.

"Yeah. Right. See you tomorrow, nya." He replied and began to jog on the paved drive to his house.

Ann. Ann Tachibana. What a nice name. What a nice, old-fashioned name. The name continued on his mind repeatedly.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"That's right, Operator. The Family's name is Tachibana. It's a new number. On Kyofu Gairo."

"I'm looking for it, sir." The Information Operator said. There was a long silence.

_"Why am I so nervous for just calling Information?" _Eiji asked himself.

He had thought of Ann throughout dinner. Now he's upstairs in his room with the phone on his hands waiting for an answer. He decided to get her phone number. _"I know I'm going to be too nervous to call her." _He thought. _But I just want to get her number, incase I would want to call her someday…" _He finished off.

There was a long silence. He leaned on his desk, drawing random doodles on the yellow pad, thinking of ways on how to get through this properly.

"Yes, here's the number. It's a new listing." The operator read it aloud and Eiji scribbled away the number.

"And what is their address, Operator?" He anxiously asked.

"We are not supposed to give that out, sir." The Operator replied.

"C'mon! I promise not to tell anybody, nya." Eiji laughed.

Surprisingly, the operator laughed too. "I guess its okay. It's my last shift anyway. It's 37 Kyofu Gairo."

"Thank you so much, Operator! You're a really nice person, nya!"

"You're nice too," She said and quickly clicked off.

Eiji stood up from his desk and stared at the yellow page that had Ann's telephone number. "_Should I call it? If I did, what would I say?" _

_Do it Eiji. _You can do it. After all she's just a girl. Sure, she the most beautiful girl, but she's still a girl. Don't be a chicken. Be a cat. Fast. Quick. Nimble.

He picked up the receiver. His hands trembled in anxiety though he felt like he could really do it. Eiji stared at the yellow page until it became a blur to his eyes.

_Even if I called her, what would I say? I would just stammer and sound like a total jerk. Maybe even worse! She probably had thought of me as an idiot when she saw me standing on my head at the cafeteria before. _

He put down the receiver.

_I can't! I can't, nya!_

_Sure why not? _

He picked up the receiver. 

_This is stupid. I'm just going to make an idiot of myself, nya!_

He punched in the numbers.

_Put the phone down, Eiji! Don't be a fool! _

It rang once. Twice.

_Maybe she won't even remember who I am anymore!_

It rang again and again.

_Nobody's home then! Safe!_

He let it ring again for at least another four times. He was about to hang up until he heard a 'click' from the other end and a young man's voice answered, "Yeah?"

"Oh. Hello." Eiji replied. His voice sounded so dry that he really hoped that it would be Ann who would answer it.

"Yeah?"

"Is Ann there?"

"What?"

Who was this guy? Why did he sound so annoyed? Maybe he woke him up.

"I'm sorry. Is this the Tachibana residence?"

"Yeah. It is." The young man rasped in his ear.

"Could I speak to Ann please?"  
There was a very long silence.

"I'm sorry. This is the Tachibanas but there is no Ann here."

The phone clicked off.


End file.
